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Modeling of Gravity Drainage in Fractured Porous Media using CFD based Software and Verification by Experimental Results

Saedi, Benyamin | 2013

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 44964 (06)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
  6. Advisor(s): Ayatollahi, Shahabodden; Masihi, Mohsen
  7. Abstract:
  8. Gravity drainage is known as the main mechanism for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) in naturally fractured reservoirs. In fact, this mechanism is active in gas invaded zone. In spite of numerous researches in the area, the literature suffers from the lack of a comprehensive model for controlled gravity drainage. Calculating the accurate oil recovery and ultimate recovery factor is inevitable for a successful field development plan as well as enhancing oil recovery. To obtain the accurate values of the aforementioned parameters, an accurate model to solve nonlinear differential equations is necessary. To this end, COMSOL, the well known commercial CFD software, has been used for the modeling of gravity drainage in a fractured porous media. The governing equations were employed based on the Darcy and mass conservation laws and partial pressure formulation. The obtained results indicated that the density differences of the two fluids, capillary properties, block height and recovery rate at the controlled gravity drainage have the greatest impacts on the oil recovery factor. Moreover, the results show that the recovery factor for the controlled gravity drainage with low rate is higher than free gravity drainage. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that reduction in the recovery rate leads to increase oil recovery factor for controlled gravity drainage.
    Experimental studies have been conducted in a transparent column surrounded by an annulus type fracture. The results of experimental studies also confirmed the fact that a decrease in recovery rate results in an increase in oil recovery factor. Satisfactorily agreement has been observed between the results of experimental study and modeling. Consequently, the proposed model in this study can be considered as the base model for the modeling of gravity drainage in more heterogeneous medias
  9. Keywords:
  10. Modeling ; Gravity Drainage Mechanism ; Fractured Reservoirs ; Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) ; Fractured Porous Media

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